Thursday, February 24, 2011

Recent Designs

I've been on a jewelry making frenzy....

This is a mother of pearl Lilly Pilly focal. I used Blue "quartz" and turquoise.



This is also Lilly Pilly (I LOVE Lilly Pilly). I used yellow turquoise and purple crystals.



This is a ceramic focal from Chinook. The photo turned out very dark - the ceramic piece is gorgeous in person! I used dark blue Czech glass and swirled green lampwork beads.



This is dyed Howlite (from Bead Gallery/ Michael's). I used little czech glass beads - so pretty!




And last but not least, this is a ceramic button from Mudalicious (I've been hoarding this one a little while!)I used some blue dyed coral, and dark blue czech glass beads.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

OK, so, it's late February, and I'm just now getting around to using one of my Christmas gifts. I received a tabletop photo light booth from my Mom (she asked what I wanted). It's pretty cool. It folds up into it's own carrying case, and came with a tripod and 2 lights, and a couple different fabric backgrounds. I used a piece of fuzzy fabric I already had for these photos. I think I need more light. The photos look dark on my screen at work, but they looked fine on my screen at home, after I brightened them up a little, and cropped them, in Photoshop. If anyone has any tips for getting more light on the subject.... I know, natural light is preferred, but I work full time, and it's hard to get photos of things. There is only so much daylight...although, I've been enjoying the slightly longer days lately...sorry I drifted a little there. (I'm sooooo ready for Spring!!)

Anyway, these are some simple necklaces I finished recently. The green one is mother of pearl, sort of like a Lilly Pilly focal, but not quite as nice or detailed. The brown & orange one is Lilly Pilly. The crazy leaf shaped one is also mother of pearl, but printed on. I got it years ago at, I think, the first Beadfest I ever went to. I bought so many beads that day!!



Monday, February 21, 2011

One Girl's Treasures....

A little while ago, my Mother gave me her box of girlhood "treasures", to see if I could make jewelry out of any of it. I have been making "found object" jewelry, so I was excited to see what she had. It's funny, as we went through the dirty cigar box, piece by piece, she would tell me..."That was Aunt Ruby's" or "I found that on the farm". She sounded like she was reverting to her childhood, speaking like a little girl, in awe of her glamorous aunties, or recalling adventurous outings on the farm. It was a sweet, tender moment for me. They were still "treasures" in her eyes. I was honored that she gave these things to me.
I made some necklaces out of the fantastic buttons - Mom has those necklaces, so I still need to snap photos of them.

There was a cool yellow buckle. Here's what I did with it:


Here's a close up



After the buttons and buckles, I moved on to the little trinkets, keys, various oddities. I grouped all the items so I could make 3 necklaces: one for me, one for my sister Laura and one for my niece Isabelle (named after my Mom's mother - Isabel).

The first thing I fell in love with was the aluminum ID bracelet plaque. I hammered it flat (it was curved, for the wrist). I'm keeping this one!!


She doesn't remember who made it for her...she really did live on "Lucky Street".



This one is for my sister. The bakelite horseshoe is really cool. And, I punched a hole in Mom's Girl Scout pin (my mom was our girl scout leader and my sister was a brownie leader for a year, I think). The "pearl" is made of wood. My sister doesn't golf, but I liked the the golf bag in this grouping.


This one will be for my niece. She's a gifted athlete, excelling in soccer and volleyball. Really, she's good at what ever she tries. This necklace has a football, a basketball (with authentic green oxidation) and a scotty dog.



All the keys were from Mom's box. The only things I added were the hammered rings to hang them from and a couple jumprings and glass beads. Mom really enjoyed looking at the finished "charm necklaces".
Incidentally, in the dirty old cigar box, there was a beautiful (but dirty) sterling compact. I cleaned it up and gave it to Mom. Not all "junk" is necessarily worthless.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Ultra Fab Giveaway by Juls

The poor woman has lost her mind (what? again?) and you won't believe what she's giving away!

Hopefully you disregard this post, and do not leave a comment on her blog, thus increasing my personal chances of winning.

Take a look here, you'll see what I'm talking about!